Does He Really Need an FM? – Part I

Hearing technology today is better than ever with digital hearing aids and cochlear implants. They give the wearer tailored access to the sounds of speech. So if a student has this great hearing aid, cochlear implant or BAHS, why does he need an FM system? These personal amplification devices are designed to amplify the sounds that are near the person’s ear. Certainly sounds from a distance can be ‘picked up’ by the microphone of a personal hearing device, but when it comes to understanding speech, the spoken message going into the device needs to be loud and clear. There are three common obstacles to a clear speech signal reaching the person with hearing loss: Distance, noise, and reverberation. FM systems are designed to mitigate these effects.